Literary Nymphs Interview
Title: A Little Road Trip
Author: Karenna Colcroft
Publisher: MLR Press
Genre: Contemporary
Release Date: June 29, 2012
What inspired the story?
MLR Press put out a call for stories about or involving July 4, the U.S. Independence Day. I thought it would be fun to revisit Braden Porter and Vince Gutierrez, the characters I introduced in my Valentine’s Day story A Little Kiss, and I thought going on a road trip would be a good way for the two of them to sort out some things in their relationship.
EXCERPT:
After I paid for the food, we went back to our room, still without talking. Vince flopped down on the bed, so I sat in the hard plastic chair at the desk, straddling it back so I could face him. He kept right on not looking at me. That plus feeling guilty sparked a few fireworks out of me. I picked up the chair and slammed it down on the floor. “You wanted to talk. Fucking talk already.”
“Not if you’re going to break shit.” He glared at me, which was a little better than him not looking at me at all. “I don’t even know what we are, you know that? Are we lovers? Boyfriends? Fuck buddies?”
“Since February, you’re the only guy I’ve been seeing,” I said. “Hell, I kiss you. You think I do that with fuck buddies?”
“I don’t know. Do you?”
I shook my head. “Never had a fuck buddy, so that’d be a no. I had a bunch of one-nighters. You don’t kiss a guy you just met.”
“But you fuck him? That’s pretty messed up.”
I shrugged. “There aren’t condoms for kissing. There are for fucking and oral.”
“Point, I guess.” He lay back and stared up at the ceiling. “I’m not trying to be needy and whiny and shit. I liked you before Valentine’s Day. Then we got together and now…well, it’s a hell of a lot more than like.”
The pain in his voice knocked some sense into me. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt him. “Same here,” I said quietly.
“Then why is this the first time we’ve stayed a night together?” He sat up and looked at me. “Why do we avoid being near each other at the bar? Why do we care so much about what other people think that we end up acting like all we are is fuck buddies, when as far as I’m concerned we’re so much more than that?”
“I don’t know.” My heart was just about breaking. I’d grown up knowing I couldn’t let on that guys were way more appealing to me than girls. Hearing my friends and their parents—and my own parents—throwing around words like “fag” and “queer.” I’d earned my place in Anglesey , and if anyone knew what I was, I’d lose it in a heartbeat.
Maybe that would be worth it if it meant Vince and I could be ourselves around each other. I’d lived in Anglesey all my life and never planned on leaving, but there were other small towns and other towing companies in the world. If people found out about Vince and I and it didn’t go well, I wasn’t stuck or anything.
Even though the thought of leaving the only place I’d ever lived scared the shit out of me.
Where can we find your website?
Readers can visit my website at www.karennacolcroft.com
If they want to hang out and chat with me, they can join my Facebook group,
Braden and Vince will be back again in
A Little Christmas Cheer,
which will be coming out late this year as part of MLR’s holiday story line-up.
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